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Good News Roundup for Tuesday, August 6, 2024 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-08-06  

Forget the Memes. This Is Kamala Harris’s “Great Strategic Advantage”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the “celebrity-media ecosystem” is terra incognita for me. I found this article fun and informative.

From Vanity Fair:

Monday [July 29th] started out typically on Pop Crave, the influential social media account that’s been cheekily compared to the Associated Press for the celebrity obsessed. “Happy 25th birthday to the talented GloRilla,” Pop Crave posted. “Saweetie looks astonishing in new photo”; “‘One Last Time’ by Ariana Grande has reached 1.5 BILLION streams on Spotify.” In the afternoon, though, the account veered into different territory. “Cardi B defends Kamala Harris from misogynistic comments online.” And four hours later: “Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has raised over $200 MILLION in a week.” Pop Crave’s many competitors and imitators followed a similar trajectory… ✂️ ...if [this shift in the celebrity-media ecosystem toward Harris] holds, it could be an edge for Harris in her underdog campaign. The Pop accounts—and other viral, celebrity-focused outlets, like the Shade Room, Hollywood Unlocked, and Bossip—not only have millions of followers, they reach an audience that isn’t exactly waiting through pharma commercials for Lawrence O’Donnell’s next segment or checking their inboxes for a newsletter from Semafor. “They’re a great strategic advantage,” Mike Nellis, a former senior adviser to Harris and the founder of the digital-advertising agency Authentic, tells me. “This is how you break through.” ✂️ Back when I worked at Rolling Stone, we knew a cover story or an investigation was about to blow up when the Pops latched on. And for now, they’ve latched on to Harris. When Pop Base shared her first campaign ad on Twitter, that post brought in more than 5 million views. When Pop Crave resurfaced a video of Harris authorizing gay marriage in California, 6.9 million people watched... The surreal last couple of weeks has generated a surge of interest in media of all types—cable ratings are up, big news brands have seen their highest traffic levels in a year or more, and TikTok has gone into full campaign mode. Big-name celebrities have added to the interest by jumping into the fray: Jennifer Aniston and JD Vance are feuding, Olivia Rodrigo endorsed Harris, and some of hip-hop’s trollier rappers are doubling down on Trump. That’s driving additional coverage from the celebrity news accounts. ...it’s a trend that’s likely to continue, at least for a while. Rap stars Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo appeared with Harris at an Atlanta rally on Tuesday. Pop Base posted about it five times. Pop Crave went even harder, with seven posts. Given that kind of attention—and the election’s stakes—those stars won’t be the last.

And speaking of celebrities:

Stevie Wonder Shouts Out Kamala Harris During Performance at Duke Fakir’s Funeral Service

From Rolling Stone:

Stevie Wonder advocated for love (and mentioned the Vice President) while speaking at Duke Fakir’s funeral service. During Friday’s final farewell for the Four Tops star, Wonder performed two gospel songs and gave a shout-out to Kamala Harris. After singing “The Lord’s Prayer” and sharing a quick “Amen” with the Hartford Memorial Baptist Church crowd, Wonder simply said the presumptive Democratic nominee’s name, “Kamala Harris.” He then paused as the crowd continued its applause and repeated: “Kamala Harris. There, I said it.” ✂️ Harris and Wonder crossed paths the day prior to Fakir’s funeral when the politician and singer eulogized Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee at a funeral in Arizona. Harris has been a lifelong fan of Wonder, sharing in 2019 that her favorite album of all time is Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. She also shared a birthday post for Wonder in 2020, calling him a “living legend and longtime heroof mine.” A rep for Wonder did not immediately confirm that the comment was Wonder’s endorsement of Harris’ candidacy nor respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. Wonder has been known for his political involvement in the past. Along with making endorsements in local races, he endorsed Biden for president in 2020 and sang “Happy Birthday” to Hillary Clinton after endorsing her in 2016. “Truth be told, I think we as men have had our chance to work it out. It’s time to let a woman do it,” he said at the time.

Jimmy Carter Says He’s Hanging On to Vote for Kamala Harris

I know this has already been covered on DKos, but it’s just too sweet not to repeat.

From The Daily Beast:

As his 100th birthday nears, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has revealed his ultimate birthday wish—to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Carter, who has been in hospice care since Feb. 2023, could make history on Oct. 1 as the first president to reach their 100th birthday. But he told his family a bigger goal for him would be to see the defeat of Republican nominee Donald Trump, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His grandson Jason Carter said he told his son Chip a few days ago, when asked whether he was trying to make it to his 100th birthday, that he is “only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.” He has also recently been “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza,” Carter’s grandson said. Jason Carter in July also endorsed Harris as the top choice to beat Trump, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. “Vice President Harris has the benefit of being part of this ticket and having been a part of this ticket for the last several months and years. She’s run before nationally; she’s been part of the team that beat Trump last time, and she knows how this works,” he said.

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🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿

There’s waaaaaay too much stumble-fuckery, self-owning, ludicrous flailing, and all-around haplessness among the MAGAs to list here, and besides you’ve already seen most of it elsewhere. So I’ll just add this musical commentary in anticipation of November’s Big Blue Wave. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

x YouTube Video

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Good news from my corner of the world

Environmental groups, farmers, again challenge renewable diesel project at Port Westward

We WILL NOT allow this fossil fool monstrosity on the Columbia River!!

From Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Two Oregon environmental and land conservation groups are once again challenging a land-use permit for a Texas-based company proposing to build one of the largest renewable diesel refineries in the country. Nonprofits Columbia Riverkeeper and 1000 Friends of Oregon, along with a local farmer, filed an appeal with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, or LUBA, on July 16. The groups are looking to reverse a county-approved permit allowing NXTClean Fuels, also known as NEXT Renewable Fuels, to build a quarter-mile rail line from the proposed facility to a main rail track. An undated aerial view of Port Westward on the lower Columbia River. Environmental and land conservation groups say NXTClean Fuels' facility would jeopardize local farms. “You couldn’t pick a worse spot for a project like this,” said Audrey Leonard, an attorney at Columbia Riverkeeper. NEXT is proposing to build a $3 billion facility near Clatskanie at the Port Westward Industrial Park on the lower Columbia River to crank out up to 50,000 barrels a day of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel made out of fish grease, used cooking oil and other agricultural waste. NEXT officials say the project would fall in line with Oregon’s climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and would also generate $45 million per year in local and state tax revenue once in operation. But Mike Seely, a third-generation mint and spearmint farmer whose property is adjacent to the proposed fuel producer, said he, and some of his peers disagree with the benefits the company is promising. Seely said the proposed rail line would cut right through an access road that leads to several of his fields. He said the project would also disrupt a system of dikes and levees that control water drainage for much of the farmland in the Columbia River Estuary. “We’re really concerned about air quality,” Seely said. “We’re concerned about water quality and the ability to convey water out of the drainage district; i.e. during the winter to pump the water out and then during the summer to get irrigation water to where it’s needed throughout the district.”

[NW] Healthcare Workers (still) Leading the Way

Labor activism is strong here in the Northwest and getting stronger with each victory.

From Northwest Labor Press:

Here in Oregon, we continue to see some of the most inspirational, worker-led actions at healthcare institutions across the state – from postdoctoral researchers at OHSU fighting for their first contract to healthcare workers throughout the Providence system, to doctors and other advanced practice providers across healthcare systems organizing at a rapid pace, to behavioral health workers fighting for better standards in their industry, to countless classifications of workers raising a united voice for accountability, solidarity, and strength as OHSU and Legacy merge. This is providing inspiration and momentum for the entire Oregon labor movement. Shop-floor actions and new organizing are helping to buoy legislative and political campaigns aimed at improving workplace conditions in healthcare too. It’s what gave healthcare workers and their unions enough power to pass the strongest safe staffing policy in the country in 2023. It’s what has inspired thousands of healthcare workers to form new unions just in the last few years. And it’s what’s giving other workers hope that they too can take on corporate giants by leading with compelling issues and using strategic campaigns…and win. ✂️ Across the state and across sectors, working people continue to be on the move – regardless of the odds – and they are changing the ballgame, and proving what we’ve always known: Your job is better in a union. Life is better in a union. And our democracy is stronger and more resilient when unions are strong and thriving. As healthcare workers across Oregon continue to lead the way and inspire others to take a stand, let’s remind ourselves that there is nothing that can stop a united group of working class people – regardless of sector or specialty – not now, and not ever. See you in the streets!

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Good news from around the nation

Oklahoma schools in revolt over Bible mandate

Sometimes simple refusal is the most effective form of activism.

From The Hill:

Educators in Oklahoma are refusing a state order to incorporate the Bible into their lesson plans, setting up an inevitable showdown with the start of the school year just weeks away. Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction, last week released guidelines to schools for how they should be integrating the Bible into classrooms, saying educators who are against the initiative “will comply, and I will use every means to make sure of it.” ✂️ “To date, schools have been advised by legal counsel (School Board Association and State Attorney General) to not follow the guidance because it goes against current Oklahoma State Law,” said Lee Northcutt, superintendent of Caddo Public Schools, in an email. The day the guidance was released, a lawsuit was filed against Walters by Joseph Price, a resident of Mayes County. Price says in the suit he is “a concerned citizen and parent of children attending public schools in Oklahoma,” adding that the order violates the separation of church and state.

Waffle House Workers Challenge the Southern Economy

Never forget that the economy of the South has always been modeled on slavery. It’s great to see pushback at last.

The resurgent labor movement’s slate of wins of the past year have energized workers across the United States—even in the fiercely anti-union South and least-unionized industries. In this uniquely hostile terrain for organized labor, service workers and labor organizers are looking beyond the standard union drive to build worker power in the South—and workers at the Waffle House restaurant chain have emerged as key figures in the fight for higher wages and better working conditions. The Union of Southern Service Workers, a nontraditional cross-sector union, is organizing to put an end to the mandatory meal deduction policy at Waffle House, a diner-style restaurant chain and mainstay of Southern culture. ...[Waffle House] beats out competitors like IHOP and Cracker Barrel in the race to the bottom for the greatest share of employees earning under $10 an hour. ✂️ Without an avenue for company-approved recourse, a handful of workers in Columbia, South Carolina, began a series of concerted worker actions with a walkout last July, to demand an end to a company policy that forces workers to purchase a Waffle House meal, each shift, regardless of whether it’s cooked or eaten. The mandatory meal deduction costs Waffle House workers $30 million in wages every year and at least $3 per worker every shift, adding to the laundry list of costs saddling food-insecure service workers. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage in Conyers, Georgia—the home of one Waffle House where workers went on strike—comes out to $24.40 for a single adult. Most Waffle House associates make nowhere near living-wage estimates, as almost a quarter of the company’s 42,473 employees take home between $2.13 and $10 an hour, in both wages and tips. ✂️ The tipped wage exploits workers by design. It’s part of a more nefarious Southern economic development model—characterized by business deregulation, opposition to unions, minimal worker protections, poverty wages, low tax rates, and regressive austerity measures shouldered by the working-class—that experts say is rooted in racism. ...Before 1966, there was no federal law requiring employers to pay tipped workers a minimum wage because Southern segregationists built carve-outs into labor laws for occupations dominated by Black workers.

Why Gas Taxes Are Out and Amazon Delivery Fees Are In

Yes!! Taxing vehicle deliveries makes sense and is the perfect way to compensate for diminishing revenue from gas taxes.

From Government Technology:

For decades, states have relied on gas taxes to provide much of the money to maintain roads and bridges. But as cars become more fuel efficient, and some Americans switch to electric vehicles, state leaders say the gas tax won’t pay the bills for much longer. At the same time, many cities have seen their streets crowded with delivery trucks from Amazon and other companies, as consumers increasingly opt to have products delivered to their homes. In a few states, lawmakers think fees on those deliveries could be part of their road-funding solution. “If you’re going to be creating wear and tear on our roads, you should help pay to maintain them,” said Colorado state Rep. Cathy Kipp, a Democrat who chairs the Energy and Environment Committee. In July 2022, Colorado became the first state with a retail delivery fee, a charge on all vehicle deliveries to consumers within the state. The fee, which currently stands at 29 cents per delivery, provides funding for highways, bridges, tunnels, electric vehicle charging stations and projects to reduce air pollution and to electrify vehicle fleets and transit systems. It has brought in more than $160 million. Colorado leaders have had to simplify the law to help businesses comply with it, but they say it’s largely been a success story. Minnesota enacted its own retail delivery fee in 2023, and lawmakers in New York and Illinois have proposed similar measures. Meanwhile, legislators and transportation officials in several other states have commissioned studies to consider the concept.

Oakland's Guns to Gardens aims to reduce shootings by turning firearms into yard tools

This is a program that could be established anywhere there are local blacksmiths. Some quick internet research revealed that we have a version of it here in Portland, but I don’t think many people know about it. I’d love to see the police department send confiscated guns to be re-purposed.

From CBS News:

Have you ever wondered what happens to guns collected at local buybacks? One artistic Oakland blacksmith is transforming the firearms into gardening tools. ✂️ For the last couple of years, Rogers, a sculptor and blacksmith, has been part of a national movement that turns surrendered weapons into gardening tools. "I'm an anti-gun violence person definitely, so I feel very strongly about it," he said. Called Guns to Gardens, the program allows people to turn over their firearms -- no questions asked -- in exchange for a gift card and a garden tool made from the decommissioned weapons. ✂️ Oakland Police Captain Steve Valle says in the last few years, the city had a significant uptick in shootings. He said programs like Guns to Gardens help get hundreds of firearms off the street. "It's a very powerful way of repurposing guns into the community in a positive way," he said. For Rogers, it's a chance to disarm hearts while making the world a little bit safer. "It's transformative. It's lead into gold. Or in this case, lead into green," he said. A display of John Rogers’ gardening tools made from surrendered guns.

This chef stretched $100 of groceries over 30 days to create affordable recipes: 'This is what accessibility looks like'

This is my favorite story in today’s GNR. Rebecca Chobat has figured out how to meet low-income individuals and families exactly where they are in their efforts to maximize both affordability and nutrition. She buys her food at a chain that’s ubiquitous in low-income communities, she provides simple lessons in preparing dishes that can be used both right away and in leftovers, and she makes home cooks feel empowered and proud. She’s my new hero!

If you’d like to check out some of her videos, click this link to her TikTok playlist.

From GoodGoodGood:

Rebecca Chobat has been finding ways to make low-cost meals fulfilling and delicious for years, under her TikTok account @dollartreedinners. From stretching $5 across three dinners to cooking a $20 Christmas dinner (for a family of six!) the home chef transforms Dollar Tree ingredients into meals that are legitimately mouthwatering. ✂️ In her latest TikTok series, Chobat decided to tackle her hardest challenge yet: stretching $100 in groceries across 90 meals. Over the course of 30 days, she made breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day on the shoestring budget. It wasn’t easy. The month involved a lot of food prepping, fruit freezing, and scouting grocery stores like Dollar Tree (and Food Lion) for sales every few days. But she did it. “We made it!” Chobat said on July 25, grinning ear to ear. “The full 30 days on $100, without going over budget. In fact, I still have some change left…I made it 30 days with 39 cents left to spare.” Watching Chobat’s videos, it’s clear that she prides herself on sustainability and transparency. She includes taxes when she calculates her shopping trips. And when she buys ingredients for a video, she doesn’t go beyond those resources, even if she had them in her kitchen cabinets at home. ✂️ “I get a lot of comments from people who are concerned about the fact that I don’t add seasonings, or garlic powder, or things like that to my food,” Chobat said. “But I’ve talked to a lot of people, I’ve done a lot of research, I’ve worked with food banks and food pantries to know that these items are not as common in households as you may think.” Chobat is constantly putting herself in the shoes of others, who might not have extra pocket change to spend on “kitchen staples” that some people take for granted. ✂️ ...why center so much of her content around Dollar Tree ingredients? In food deserts across America, Dollar Trees may be the only option for some shoppers. And if there’s other stores in the area, Dollar Tree is often still the cheapest one (even with their baseline increase to $1.25 an item). ...For a lot of viewers, Chobat’s videos are not just helpful. They’re empowering. They’re vital.

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Good news from around the world

Ukraine has started flying long-awaited F-16s, Zelenskyy says

It’s wonderful to see Zelenskyy’s many months of lobbying for these vital defense weapons finally come to fruition.

From Politico:

The Ukrainian military has started using F-16 fighter jets received from Western allies after lengthy negotiations, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. ✂️ After months of intense lobbying of its Western allies, Ukraine has received an undisclosed number of the U.S.-made fighter jets from two NATO members, Denmark and the Netherlands. Ukrainian officials have been stressing for months their need for modern combat planes to replace their aging Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi jets and better defend the country's skies against Russia's invasion. ✂️ Several Western countries, including NATO heavyweights France and the United States, have started training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s, with Kyiv pressing its allies to accelerate the pace of training. Paris has also pledged to provide Ukraine with its own Mirage 2000 veteran fighter jets.

G20 agrees to work to effectively tax the superrich

At last!!

From DW:

Finance ministers from the G20 nations agreed to work toward effectively taxing the superrich, according to a statement adopted [on July 26] after a meeting in Rio de Janeiro. "With full respect to tax sovereignty, we will seek to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed," the statement said. "Wealth and income inequalities are undermining economic growth and social cohesion and aggravating social vulnerabilities,” … . The sensitive issue of cracking down on tax-dodging billionaires dominated the two-day meeting in the Brazilian city that will host a G20 summit in November. International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva welcomed the G20's stance on "tax fairness," calling the decision to cooperate on taxing the ultrarich "timely and welcome." The initiative is a key priority for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who this year chairs the grouping of the world's major economies. Lula had hoped for a 2% minimum tax on the wealthy elite, but the final declaration represents a compromise on an issue that has divided member states. According to a report by French economist Gabriel Zucman commissioned by Brazil, billionaires currently pay the equivalent of 0.3% of their wealth in taxes. A 2% tax would raise between $200 billion (€184 billion) and $250 billion (€230 billion) a year globally from about 3,000 individuals. The money could fund public services such as education and health care, as well as the fight against climate change, the report said.

Uranium Mine Leased for Years Becomes Part of National Park in Historic Win for Native Activists

It’s extra-good news that this victory is being celebrated not only by the Australian native tribe and the government but also by the mining company that’s being displaced. An amazing win-win-win!

From Good News Network:

In a major win for the traditional owners of Australia, the federal government has ordered the end of the land leasing program for the Jabiluka uranium deposit, ensuring that mining will never occur on the land owned by the Mirarr people. At the same time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his coalition added it to the nearby Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site twice the size of Yellowstone. ✂️ “[It]means there will never be mining at Jabiluka,” Mr. Albanese was quoted as saying [on July 27th]. “This beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world, a reminder of the extraordinary privilege all of us have, to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture.” A Rio Tinto [mining company] spokesperson acknowledged the announcement, and told ABC News Down Under that the company “is pleased that the wishes of the Mirarr People … have been respected.”

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Good news in medicine

‘Dancing molecules’ heal cartilage damage

I’ve been researching this fascinating story for a few days now, and I still can’t say that I entirely understand how this breakthrough therapy works. But I can definitely say that it’s amazing and thrilling.

From Northwestern Now:

In November 2021, Northwestern University researchers introduced an injectable new therapy, which harnessed fast-moving “dancing molecules,” to repair tissues and reverse paralysis after severe spinal cord injuries. Now, the same research group has applied the therapeutic strategy to damaged human cartilage cells. In the new study, the treatment activated the gene expression necessary to regenerate cartilage within just four hours. And, after only three days, the human cells produced protein components needed for cartilage regeneration. The researchers also found that, as the molecular motion increased, the treatment’s effectiveness also increased. In other words, the molecules’ “dancing” motions were crucial for triggering the cartilage growth process. “When we first observed therapeutic effects of dancing molecules, we did not see any reason why it should only apply to the spinal cord,” said Northwestern’s Samuel I. Stupp, who led the study. “Now, we observe the effects in two cell types that are completely disconnected from one another — cartilage cells in our joints and neurons in our brain and spinal cord. This makes me more confident that we might have discovered a universal phenomenon. It could apply to many other tissues.”

This quote from an article from the Argonne National Laboratory sheds some light on what these “dancing molecules” are, but it’s still pretty opaque, at least to me. 🤔

Injected as a liquid, the molecules came together in a solution to form tiny fiber structures (called nanofibers) that surrounded the spinal cord. The researchers discovered that the motion of molecules within the nanofibers could be controlled by changing their chemical structure. It turned out that molecules that moved most — ​“danced” more — were more likely to signal cells via proteins called receptors, resulting in a more effective treatment.

Researchers engineer brain-infecting parasite into living drug delivery system

Another “Wow!!” medical breakthrough. It’s one of those pieces of research that makes me wonder how they got the idea to explore it in the first place.

From Fierce Biotech:

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite famous for its cunning ways. This microbial manipulator can only reproduce inside of cats, so, if it finds itself in another mammalian host, like a rat, it alters the rodent’s behavior to make it less fearful of felines. This effect has even been found in wild spotted hyena cubs, who behave more boldly toward lions when infected with T. gondii. Now, researchers have devised a way to engineer this single-celled saboteur for good. Neuroscientist Shahar Bracha, Ph.D., now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, genetically modified T. gondii to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier. The results, published in Nature Microbiology on July 29, present a potential new avenue for safely and effectively getting drugs to the brain to treat neurological diseases. “This study demonstrates a turning of tables with a rare opportunity to use a parasite to better human health,” Emma Wilson, Ph.D., a biomedical researcher at the University of California, Riverside who was not involved with the study, told Fierce Biotech in an email. “A really exciting way to get to neurons that are intrinsically so well protected in the brain.” ✂️ To successfully infect host cells, T. gondii uses three different protein secretion systems. Two of these hinge on structures called rhoptries and dense granules and are used to make proteins destined to infiltrate cells such as neurons. Bracha edited the genes controlling proteins made by these systems so that T. gondii would make what’s called a fusion protein, which is essentially a parasitic protein stitched together with a therapeutic protein. In a way, this turns the parasite into a living, moving, miniature drug factory. ✂️ Bracha’s work led to the creation of Epeius Pharma, an Israeli biotech looking to turn T. gondii into a vehicle for drug delivery. The next big step is ensuring the parasite has had its dangerous side fully stripped away in the same way that viruses used for gene therapy have been neutered and made safe.

Titanium Maglev Heart Implanted Successfully in a Patient for First Time May Help Others Waiting for a Transplant

Another “Wow!” The great news from medical researchers just keeps on coming. And do take a moment to think about how courageous this first patient is!

From Good News Network:

The Total Artificial Heart, made of titanium In a highly-anticipated world-first, the Texas Heart Institute has successfully implanted an artificial titanium heart that uses the same technology as bullet trains to pump blood mechanically throughout the body. Called the Total Artificial Heart (TAH), the feat is seen as a major step in keeping people alive for longer and longer periods while they wait for heart transplants. Texas Heart partnered with the medical tech company BiVACOR to create the TAH. It’s a titanium-constructed biventricular rotary blood pump with a single moving part that utilizes a magnetically levitated rotor that pumps the blood and replaces both ventricles of a failing heart. The benefit of using magnetic levitation is that none of the moving parts ever scrape or slide against each other, reducing friction, and dramatically increasing the longevity of the device. But what’s really cool is the TAH can pump blood at a rate of 12 liters per minute, enough to allow an adult male to engage in exercise. The first-in-human clinical study, overseen closely by the FDA, aims to evaluate the safety and performance of the BiVACOR TAH as a bridge-to-transplant solution for patients with severe bi or univentricular heart failure. Following this first implantation completed at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center, four additional patients are to be enrolled in the study.

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Good news in science

Redefining Consciousness: Scientists Discover That Small Regions of the Brain Can Take Micro-Naps While the Rest of the Brain Is Awake

The human brain is endlessly intriguing and impressive. This discovery is surprising, but it also makes so much sense.

From SciTechDaily:

For the first time, scientists have found that sleep can be detected by patterns of neuronal activity just milliseconds long, 1000 times shorter than a second, revealing a new way to study and understand the basic brain wave patterns that govern consciousness. They also show that small regions of the brain can momentarily “flicker” awake while the rest of the brain remains asleep, and vice versa from wake to sleep. These findings, described in a new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, are from a collaboration between the laboratories of Assistant Professor of Biology Keith Hengen at Washington University in St. Louis and Distinguished Professor of Biomolecular Engineering David Haussler at UC Santa Cruz. The research was carried out by Ph.D. students David Parks (UCSC) and Aidan Schneider (WashU). Over four years of work, Parks and Schneider trained a neural network to study the patterns within massive amounts of brain wave data, uncovering patterns that occur at extremely high frequencies that have never been described before and challenge foundational, long-held conceptions of the neurological basis of sleep and wake. ✂️ As they observed the model predicting sleep or wake, they noticed what looked at first like errors, in which for a split second the model would detect wake in one region of the brain while the rest of the brain remained asleep. They saw the same thing in wake states: for a split second, one region would fall asleep while the rest of the regions were awake. They call these instances “flickers.” This compelled the researchers to explore what flickers could mean about the function of sleep, and how they affect behavior during sleep and wake. “There’s a natural hypothesis there; let’s say a small part of your brain slips into sleep while you’re awake — does that mean your behavior suddenly looks like you’re asleep? We started to see that that was often the case,” Schneider said. In observing the behavior of mice, the researchers saw that when a brain region would flicker to sleep while the rest of the brain was awake, the mouse would pause for a second, almost like it had zoned out. A flicker during sleep (one brain region “wakes up”) was reflected by an animal twitching in its sleep. Flickers are particularly surprising because they don’t follow established rules dictating the strict cycle of the brain moving sequentially between wake to non-REM sleep to REM sleep.“We are seeing wake to REM flickers, REM to non-REM flickers — we see all these possible combinations, and they break the rules that you would expect based on a hundred years of literature,” Hengen said. “I think they reveal the separation between the macro-state — sleep and wake at the level of the whole animal, and the fundamental unit of state in the brain — the fast and local patterns.”

Mercury Could Have A Layer of Diamonds 11-Miles Thick Beneath the Surface

I’m not thrilled at the idea of mining on other planets, but as the article points out, it would be better than mining “blood diamonds” here on Earth.

From Good News Network:

A bi-disciplinary scientific study has revealed the likely presence of a layer of diamonds 11 miles thick at the boundary layer of Mercury’s core and mantle. … Diamonds are...pure carbon. ...When viewed by the MESSENGER spacecraft from 2011 to 2015, Mercury appears exceptionally grey due to the high content of graphite on the planet. This mineral...is another form of pure carbon, and was a clue for the researchers that diamonds might be richly present beneath the surface. ✂️ In their study, the researchers placed graphite in a special pressure machine along with a smattering of elements believed to be rich in Mercury’s mantle layer, including silicon, titanium, magnesium, and aluminum. They subjected the mixture to 70,000 times the pressure of Earth at sea level, and 2,000° Celcius (3,630 degrees Fahrenheit). These are the conditions believed to have been present at the core-mantle boundary layer while Mercury was forming 4.5 billion years ago when it coalesced from clouds of gas and dust. Electron microscopy revealed that the mixture melted and the graphite had turned into diamond crystal. By examining data from the MESSENGER mission about the mineral composition and depth of Mercury’s crust, mantle, and planetary core under the context of their experiment, the authors estimate the layer of diamonds should be about 11 miles thick. It wouldn’t be possible to mine these diamonds for the same reason it isn’t possible to mine Earth’s mantle—it’s’ hundreds of miles below the surface. “However, some lavas at the surface of Mercury have been formed by melting of the very deep mantle. It is reasonable to consider that this process is able to bring some diamonds to the surface, by analogy with what happens on Earth,” said Bernard Charlier, head of the department of geology at the University of Liège in Belgium and a coauthor of a study. It’s nothing to scoff at, and though mining equipment would have to withstand surface temperatures hotter than 500 degrees Fahrenheit, humanity has already mined two asteroids using robots, and the company Trans Astra is already preparing to release a suite of asteroid mining craft. It makes perfect sense to outsource the collection of these jewels to a planet where mining operations won’t endanger a single animal, release runoff into approximately zero rivers, dispossess not one person from their land, cause zero civil wars, and fell zero trees.

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Good news for the environment

We’ve discovered the world’s trees absorb methane — so forests are even more important in the climate fight than we thought

This is a ground-breaking discovery. I’m especially impressed that they took the extra step of calculating the global area of tree bark!

By Vincent Gauci, University of Birmingham, in The Conversation:

Positioning a gas exchange chamber on a temperate woodland tree in west Sussex. Tree bark in the world’s forests absorbs the greenhouse gas methane, my colleagues and I have demonstrated for the first time on a global scale – a discovery that could have big implications for tackling climate change. As trees photosynthesise, their leaves take up carbon dioxide (CO₂) and lock it away as biomass in their trunks and branches providing a long-term store of carbon. But now, our large-scale study proves that there’s another way that trees absorb greenhouse gases – so forests can provide even more climate benefits than previously thought. Methane has contributed about a third of the observed climate warming since preindustrial times…, [trapping]much more heat in the atmosphere than the equivalent amount of CO₂. But while CO₂ can last in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, methane has a lifetime of around ten years. This short atmospheric lifetime means that any changes to sources of methane or processes that remove methane from the atmosphere (known as methane sinks) can have rapid effects. If removal is enhanced, this can be a quick climate win helping to mitigate escalating climate change. That’s why...my team of ecologists and climate scientists have been studying the exchange of methane between tree bark, a surface that had previously been overlooked for its climate contribution, and the atmosphere. ...methane exchange in trees growing on free-draining soils that don’t flood – that includes most of the world’s forests – has not been well-studied, until now. We measured methane exchange on hundreds of tree stems in forests along a climate gradient spanning the Amazon and Panama, through to Sweden and forests near Oxford in the UK. We used a simple plastic chamber that wrapped around the tree trunk which was then connected to a laser-based methane analyser. ...the surprise happened when we measured higher up the trunks: trees were taking up methane from the atmosphere and this methane removal grew stronger the higher up we went, with methane removal from the atmosphere dominating overall exchange. Next, we investigated whether this was a globally important process. To do this we needed to calculate the global area of tree bark. Using a technique called terrestrial laser scanning, we mapped tree woody surfaces down to the finest twig. We discovered that, if the bark from all the world’s trees were laid flat, it would cover all of Earth’s land surface. Potentially, this represents a vast area for gas exchange between tree bark and the atmosphere but this mechanism is still poorly understood. In total, our cautious first estimate is that trees take up between about 25 and 50 million tonnes of atmospheric methane each year, with most taken up by tropical forests. This is similar to the only other land-based methane sink – soils – and it makes temperate and tropical trees 7%-12% better for climate than they are currently credited for. ...If we reforest and plant trees in the right place, more methane could be drawn down from the atmosphere.

Germans Combat Climate Change From Their Balconies

The small amount of electricity they generate might make these panels seem insignificant, but multiplied by hundreds of thousands they can have a major impact.

From The New York Times (gift link):

In Germany, individual plug-in panels sell for as low as 200 euros, or about $217, at big box stores. At a Berlin trade fair for sustainability, a new gadget caught Waltraud Berg’s eye — a solar panel small enough to be easily installed on the side of a balcony and then plugged into a wall socket to feed energy produced by the sun directly into her home. “I was absolutely thrilled to learn that such a thing even existed, that you can generate your own power and be more independent,” said Ms. Berg, a retiree who installed several panels on the south-facing balcony of her Berlin apartment by herself. Each of the lightweight panels produces only enough electricity to charge a laptop or run a small refrigerator. But in homes across Germany, they are powering a quiet transformation, bringing the green revolution into the hands of people without requiring them to make a large investment, find an electrician or use heavy tools. ✂️ More than 500,000 of the systems have already been set up across Germany, and new laws that relaxed rules around solar panel installation have contributed to a boom in use. In the first six months of the year, the country added nine gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, the amount of solar power a system produces, according to the Federal Network Agency, a German regulator. ✂️ Adding to the appeal in Germany are recently passed laws that effectively prevent landlords and co-op boards from blocking solar panel installations and drop some of the more cumbersome registration requirements. Together, these changes have made the idea of installing a personal solar system attractive to a wider consumer base.

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Good news for and about animals

Brought to you by Rascal and Margot, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.

Los Angeles Zoo sets record with 17 California condor chicks hatched in 2024

Rascal thinks baby condors are pretty cute, and he’s thrilled that there are so many of them this year. Me, too!

From The Independent:

A record 17 California condor chicks hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo during this year's breeding season for the endangered birds, officials announced Wednesday. All the chicks will be candidates for release into the wild as part of the California Condor Recovery Program, the LA Zoo said in a statement. The 17th and final bird of the season hatched in June and is thriving, zookeepers said. The previous record was set in 1997, when 15 California condor chicks hatched at the zoo. ✂️ [Rose] Legato [the zoo's Curator of Birds] said the recent record is a result of new breeding and rearing techniques developed at the zoo that put two or three chicks together to be raised by a single adult condor acting as a surrogate parent. “The result is more condor chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild,” Legato said. ✂️ It's the largest land bird in North America , with wings spanning up to 9.5 feet (2.9 meters). As of December 2023, there were about 560 California condors in the world, of which more than 340 were living in the wild, the zoo said.

Margot thinks all cat lovers need to boost this (especially since it looks like she posed for the photo)!

Dogs were enlisted to rewild parts of the UK

Happy pups romping around and also restoring landscapes! A perfect win-win.

From Positive News:

‘Man’s best friend’ is becoming an ally of nature too thanks to a novel rewilding project in southern England. Equipped with leaky backpacks full of wildflower seeds, dogs are being let loose on a site just outside Lews, where they “mimic” an ecological role vacated by wolves when they were driven to extinction the 18th century. Wolves unwittingly collected seeds in their fur and deposited them all over the UK, creating new colonies of plants. Now Lewes’ dogs are doing the same thanks to an initiative run by the Railway Land Wildlife Trust and the Wilderlife rewilding platform. The idea is believed to have started in Chile, where people used dogs to disperse seeds following devastating wildfires. Dogs can cover larger distance than their owners and often explore areas that are hard for humans to reach. Project manager Dylan Walker said: “This has been such a joyous experience. Dog walkers often get bad press when walking in the countryside, so we’re so pleased to tell a story in which dogs and their owners are the stars.”

I mentioned in my last GNR that Margot has taken on the extra research task of finding good news about animals other than birds, cats, and dogs. Here’s this week’s heartwarming story, from here in Oregon.

‘Operation Oink’: Oregon animal sanctuaries welcome pigs released from research labs

From KOIN:

Thanks to “Operation Oink!”, two Oregon animal sanctuaries have welcomed pigs that were freed from an undisclosed research lab. The Animal Legal Defense Fund announced the release of six pigs on Tuesday. Two pigs were relocated to Leo’s Animal Rescue in Onyx, Calif., while one pair was transported to Portland’s Wildlings Forest Sanctuary and another now lives at Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in Scio, Ore. A rescued pig makes a new friend. ALDF reported it spent several weeks planning the operation, which required crews to travel thousands of miles over three days using two separate modes of transportation. New Life Animal Sanctuary, a California-based organization focused on releasing animals from research labs, also assisted. The National Institutes of Health explained that animals serve “important roles” in research because they help drive medical advancements. But according to advocates, it is rare for animals to survive these labs. ALDF said they are often forced to undergo invasive tests before dying in a terminal study. “We may never know what these smart and sensitive pigs endured while locked behind laboratory doors,” Executive Director Chris Green added in a statement. “But we do know that conducting invasive research on pigs can be extremely cruel and unnecessary. We thus are overjoyed to at least help these six sweet souls start their new lives in safe, serene sanctuaries where they can experience joy and feel forever safe from harm.”

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